Military sex crimes must end

OUR VIEW

The U.S. military has a crime problem and scarcely seems to know it.

Aided by some high-ranking officers and some antiquated policies regarding chain of command, servicemen and even some servicewomen have committed sexual assault at rates that will no longer go ignored.

That, and the fact that the very officers entrusted to combat sexual abuse and sexual harassment have in some cases been among the violators.

It is not a situation to make light of, as Donald Trump recently did, and neither is it a matter to keep quiet; that has been tried and failed to work.

The Pentagon's report found that there were 3,374 reports of sexual assault in the 2012 fiscal year. But that's only those who came forward to formally complain: Anonymous surveys of service members indicate the real number is more like 26,000.

Even with such numbers available, it is unlikely that many Americans would have heard about it, except for a spate of cases in which officers in charge of preventing sexual assault and harassment were themselves accused; one of them was the manager of the sexual assault response at Fort Campbell. He was arrested in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife.

However, most of the 3,374 cases involved young men in lower to middle ranks. Their victims 88 percent of the time were enlisted women. Drinking was cited as a factor in many cases. But it would be a mistake for military officials, as one general on the Joint Chiefs said, to let alcohol assume too large a role. It suggests an outdated narrative that the attacker cannot control himself, or that consent is implied when the victim and attacker are both inebriated.

Sexual assault is a felony in American civil code and in the military as well. A major difference appears to be the false perception that a service member who accuses another service member of sexual assault is breaking the chain of command, almost "snitching."

The military can and must start to turn the tide against this sort of thinking within its own ranks. This cannot wait, or be slow-walked, because every crime committed, prosecuted or not, diminishes the most important attribute of a successful military: trust. That trust should begin with service members doing no harm to one another.